WIDOWS by Ariel Dorfman, translated by Stephen Kessler New York, Seven Stories Press: 2002 863.DOR
TO DIE IN BERLIN by Calors Cerda, translated by Andrea G. Labinger
Pittsburgh, Latin American Literary Press: 1999 (1993) 863 CER
The overthrow of the Allende government of Chile on 11 August 1973, like many horrific events, has beget some outstanding literature. Of the two authors at hand, Ariel Dorfman is much the better known, but that may be a simple result of Cerda living out his exile from his homeland in Europe.
Dorfman, who was imprisoned after the coup by the Pinochet dictatorship, recently gave a speech to the Modern Language Association about the vicissitudes of preserving freedom, titled The Homeland Security Department Ate My Speech. Typical of Dorfman's work, it was a literary exercise that poked fun at intellectuals who take themselves too seriously while, at the same time, dealing with painful issues. According to reports, if the test of a good mind is the ability to hold two conflicting ideas at once, the MLA members mostly failed.
Not so Widows, a novel that began life as a poem, and then grew into a play. When your subject matter includes the bodies of men washing up on the ocean's shore, their faces rendered unrecognizable by torture, it is perhaps necessary to employ a distancing device. So Dorfman sets Widows in Greece circa 1942 (the year Dorfman was born). The story is told through the eyes of a Danish man, who is eventually picked up by the Nazis and disappears. To women goes to unbearable burden of remembrance in this powerful short novel.
Carlos Cerda (1942-2001), like many supporters of the elected President, Salvador Allende, went into exile after the coup. One of many "boomerang" writers, so named because they returned to Chile after freedom of the press was restored, Cerda moved first to neighboring Colombia and then lived in East Berlin, where he earned a doctorate in philosophy. Winner of several literary prizes, Cerda died of cancer just before he was scheduled to speak at the first International Book Fair to be held in Santiago.
To Die In Berlin follows the lives of several characters exiled in Berlin, especially a former senator, Don Carlos, a man doubly exiled by his inability to speak German, and his watchful neighbor, a young ballet dancer named Leni. Don Carlos has used his diplomatic skills to help other exiles wishing to travel but his dying wish, to return home, is thwarted by the German authorities.
Leni also observes the charade of exiles Lorena and Mario, whose marriage is dying, as they attempt to create a semblance a family togetherness for their parents who are just arrived from Chile. Just as they hide the fact that Mario is living with another woman, the parents have concealed their desperate financial situation. In the end, Lorena is exiled once again, moving alone to West Berlin to get a job that can support the family.
Two short, memorable novels that deal with recent political events without trivializing or propaganda.
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